


The New World

by Gigi_Bell



Series: Fantasy [16]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dystopia, Byun Baekhyun is Bad at Feelings, Byun Baekhyun-centric, Chan is seriously so soft, Childhood Sweethearts, Family Feels, M/M, Married Couple, Minor Violence, Misunderstandings, Post-Zombie Apocalypse, Protective Byun Baekhyun, Soft Park Chanyeol, Survival, Trust Issues, Virus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:55:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 19,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29418261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gigi_Bell/pseuds/Gigi_Bell
Summary: Baekhyun couldn’t afford to trust strangers. He couldn’t risk caring for anyone other than Chanyeol.That’s just how things had to be in the new world.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Park Chanyeol
Series: Fantasy [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2055237
Comments: 17
Kudos: 90





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Captainsehgal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captainsehgal/gifts).



> This work is solely mine, I do not allow stories to be posted on any other site, and any translations that are done will be posted here on my own page, I don’t allow my works to be posted under any other accounts.

Old newspapers said the end of the world was when a group of sick monkeys got released from the back of a carrier truck, but that wasn’t exactly the truth. 

The truth was the world began to fall apart from the panic people created because of that event. Like falling dominoes.

If everyone had stayed inside until the animals were captured, like officials had ordered, this wouldn’t have happened. 

But humans were slow witted, selfish creatures and continued on their merry way as if there wasn’t a virus spreading rampant.

It took a year for the virus to take over the world. That may sound like a long time, but it truthfully wasn’t long at all considering the population had been cut in half over a year.

For some, the virus just killed right away, usually that happened to the weaker people like children and the elderly. 

But for others it spread like wildfire - only a wildfire that took over the mind and took control of a person's motor functioning and _intent._

It turned them into feral animals whose only intent was to eat and to create more like them. 

The virus spread through saliva. It was one of the last studies released by the CDC before everything went to hell. 

Baekhyun could still remember where he was when the virus hit the small town he lived in. 

He was with his boyfriend Chanyeol sneaking into the auditorium when their high school’s alarms blared, signalling an intruder was on campus. Both seniors panicked and slipped into the music room to hide. 

It was pure coincidence that the auditorium where they hid for their lives was the same place they’d met.

They clicked the moment Baekhyun walked into the auditorium on his first day of school, he’d gotten lost looking for his homeroom class, and he used to be a skittish sixteen year old, but Chanyeol wasn’t.

Chanyeol had been sitting on the edge of the stage with an acoustic guitar when Baekhyun arrived and seemed like he had no care in the world, who came or went _or_ that it was eight in the morning. 

Chanyeol wasn’t shy, he was a people person, and when they met it felt something akin to _belonging -_ something Baekhyun hadn’t ever felt before considering his parents used to move around a lot.

For two years they had a regular relationship, a good one, one where Chanyeol took him to the movies every weekend, and Baekhyun would sneak out of his fourth period class to go to the auditorium and watch him play with the instruments.

Chanyeol was just a musical genius like that, he could play anything people handed him. 

But it had been so long since those days. And even longer since he and Chanyeol had gotten trapped in the auditorium by those virus infected people with bloodshot eyes and inhuman noises coming from them. 

They spent a week there, living off of what they could find in people’s abandoned backpacks left lying in the music room.

When they worked up the courage to leave the room it was terrifying, and the first time they had to kill one of them it was full of shaking hands and screaming. 

They didn’t have a weapon on them, only instruments, and that didn’t stop Chanyeol from taking down what was once their gym coach with a brand new electric guitar that his boyfriend had been fawning over just a week prior.

To this day Chanyeol still couldn't look at electric guitars because of all the blood and the ringing sound the instrument made with each swing. 

But they had to get used to it. They did. They got used to a lot over the years - they had to, it was either that or turn into a meal.

Sometimes Baekhyun wondered about what they could have done if things hadn’t gone to shit. He wanted to go to college and learn about plant science. It was a strange thing he liked but Chanyeol used to joke that Baekhyun would have to be the one to support him until his music career took off.

Baekhyun didn’t think it would have taken that long for Chanyeol to get signed after high school, but he was also incredibly biased of how amazing Chanyeol was.

It was why they’d gotten married after all. 

Not _really,_ of course, but the bands on their fingers felt that way.

Baekhyun would’ve said _yes_ to Chanyeol even if the world wasn’t horrible and they didn’t have an uncertain number of years before becoming chew toys. 

Chanyeol found the rings when they scavenged through an abandoned mall, they were sparkly, gold, and lightweight.

It started as a joke, but at the time Baekhyun didn’t know Chanyeol was only messing around when he proclaimed that they should get married and playfully gave him a ring.

It just felt easy to say yes to him, and his serious response prompted a completely taken back look on Chanyeol’s face that was composed of wide, shaking eyes and a blush.

The rest was pretty much history, they spent their “honeymoon” hiding out in a mall they had to themselves where they ate all of the packaged goods from the food stands and ran up and down the escalators. 

Contrary to how movies of the end of the world went, there really weren’t many people still living to have creatures banging on the windows of the shops and snapping at them. 

The virus was still living in a human body after all, it could only live as long as a person would and sustain the same amount of injuries a person could. The virus was only dangerous when it had a living host.

But it turned out some people could sustain so much before dying and taking the virus with them, it was normally starvation that took the biters down. 

So _yes_ there were a lot of bodies around, but it wasn’t necessarily as dangerous as one might think, and the longer they stayed alive the fewer biters were around.

But the ones that _were_ they had to be careful of.

Finding the motivation to stay alive in a world so cold was the hard part.

***

“Should we start moving out within the next few days?” 

Baekhyun was leaning over the edge of a window, peeking out of the hotel room he and Chanyeol had been staying in for the past few days.

He was being a bit paranoid because when they arrived at this hotel and decided to take a break from all the walking they found a biter locked inside of the clerks office in the lobby.

Someone had to have done that seeing as the biter was still kicking which suggested it had been feasting on something in this area - likely the dead birds sitting on the lobby floor - but it being locked up drew a red flag for Baekhyun.

The last people they encountered hadn’t exactly been a nice experience for them and Chanyeol’s limp could testify to that.

Baekhyun found people feeble minded; those that didn’t get the virus could hardly deal with the downfall of the world and the population of humans to biters was incredibly low.

So low that he and Chanyeol could easily go months without seeing a single uninfected human.

He preferred it that way.

“Baek,” Chanyeol laughed from somewhere behind him. “I thought you were going to cut my hair when I got out, but instead you’re staring out the window? Care to share what’s so interesting?” 

Baekhyun could hear the heavier step he did with his right foot because he favored it over putting too much pressure on his left one. 

“If you think cannibalism is interesting, then you’ll have the time of your life looking out there,” Baekhyun commented dryly, shutting the curtain and bypassing the pile of food they’d stolen from the hotel kitchen to take with them. 

Instead, he turned his focus on Chanyeol's naked back and the towel around his waist as his husband messed with a handheld gaming system he found.

It was relieving when they found a place with the water still working. Some sections of towns had their power and water turned off when the government had originally tried to separate “infection zones,” areas where the virus had struck first.

People had hoped it wouldn’t spread at one point, they’d _tried_ to wrangle it in. But by then it was too late.

“Sit down, baby,” Baekhyun requested, quickly digging through his backpack for a pair of scissors.

They’d learned throughout the years what things were necessary and what weren’t. Scissors were just as necessary as can openers, but sometimes Chanyeol managed to convince him that things like comics and books were just as important.

In the end the deal was if Chanyeol wanted it then he had to deal with the extra weight in his pack. But half the time Baekhyun took his bag and pretended he didn’t notice they swapped. 

“I don’t want it all gone,” Chanyeol commented, now sitting on the bed, eyes glued to what Baekhyun considered a _childish_ toy, but he’d never say that to Chanyeol.

“I know, Yeol.” 

“Just a bit!”

Baekhyun snickered and placed himself on Chanyeol's lap, straddling his hips and combing fingers through his damp locks, “What’s this mood you're in today? How old are you, sixteen?” 

“No. I think I’m twenty four or five. Don’t be mean to me or I’ll ignore you all day.” 

_“Childish, baby...”_ Baekhyun chided as he cracked a smile. “So what is that?” 

“It’s a DS. I haven’t seen one since I was like ten. They’re old,” Chanyeol shrugged, “Better than nothing. I’ll teach you how to play Mario on it since you liked that game on the iPad before it broke.” 

Baekhyun didn’t point out that he didn’t care much for the game, he just liked to watch Chanyeol get worked up when he won a level, it reminded him of the days when they had all the time in the world to play shooting games on Saturdays. 

“I need you to lift your head,” Baekhyun gently grasped his chin to tilt his head up, earning a silent complaint as Chanyeol hurried to pause his game.

“You did that on purpose.” 

“I’m allowed to see your pretty face whenever I want,” Baekhyun shot back, looking at the mess of curls for a second before combing through with his fingers to grab some strands. 

“Why are you sucking up all the sudden?” 

“Because I’m going to tell you that we’re heading out in the morning.” 

Chanyeol's eyes dulled only the smallest bit before he put his game on the mattress and grasped Baekhyun’s hips, “Okay, sweetheart.” 

“Hey,” The elder whispered quietly, “You know it’s because I want us to find better things, right? We’re going to find somewhere to stay, but it needs to be safe. We thought a house was safe, but it’s just not good enough. When those things start to realize they can follow us we’ll need something better. Where we can stock up on supplies and not risk other scavengers coming through. You understand that, right, chipmunk?” 

Chanyeol's ears flushed and he groaned, “Baek, stop calling me that.” 

With a playful gasp Baekhyun tossed his scissors down to cup Chanyeol's face and nip at his round cheek, _“Never!_ You're my baby, my little chubby cheeked-“

 _“Embarrassing.”_ Chanyeol hissed and cupped the back of his head to shush him with his mouth, pressing their lips together firmly.

That was a way Baekhyun didn’t mind getting told to shut up at all. He tangled his arms around the back of Chanyeol’s neck and pressed their chests together.

The familiar feeling of his tongue brushing Chanyeol’s made him sigh, and he felt the younger begin to smile into the kiss, making it impossible for Baekhyun to continue when Chanyeol wanted to be impossibly cute today. 

“Sorry. Sorry, it’s funny.” 

“What?” Baekhyun asked, sounding whiny to his own ears as he brought his lips down Chanyeol's neck.

“You're a big baby with a pretend scowl.” 

Baekhyun’s brows pulled together and he pulled back to shove Chanyeol’s shoulders back onto the bed which in turn earned a bunch of deep laughter from the other. 

“What are you talking about? You're delusional.” Baekhyun cried dramatically, shimmying down to press his kisses to the smooth expanse of Chanyeol's chest, fingers teasing along his husband's sides. “Now are we having sex or _not?”_

“You're already starting.” Chanyeol pointed out.

Baekhyun chuckled and sat back to reach for the edge of his own top, “Well, since I’ve already started we have to finish, don’t we? Those are the rules.” 

“And _I’m_ the childish one…” 

“Keep talking and you aren't fucking me at all.” 

“And the silent game starts now.” 

Baekhyun began to giggle like crazy.

***

“Let’s pick up the pace, baby,” Baekhyun said gently, holding a glass door open and peering inside of the store.

He couldn’t believe he was letting Chanyeol do this and not scolding him. God, he was letting his husband walk all over him.

Okay, that was a little dramatic, but Baekhyun normally would tell him _absolutely_ not to his ridiculous idea. 

Chanyeol wanted the guitar from the store.

That would have been fine three months ago when they had a car that wasn’t rusted out or dead, but they _didn’t_ now. The battery had died in their old one so now they were on foot. 

With a huge, brown acoustic guitar apparently because Chanyeol wanted it _oh so bad._

Screw him and his sickeningly cute face, Baekhyun huffed.

Chanyeol turned around to look at him with this lopsided grin as he held the guitar out with a victory noise, as if he’d done something extraordinary despite only having taken it off the wall. “You're angry now, but just wait until I play you a song!” 

Baekhyun grumbled because he couldn't deny that he loved to listen to him play, he just opted to sigh and step out of the doorway to hold it open and let him through. “No more stops for unnecessary things, deal?” 

“But-“

Baekhyun’s neck snapped up to watch Chanyeol's back as he fiddled with the string on the guitar. His eyes flickered down to his limp for a second before he shook his head and quickly caught up, “No. we aren’t stopping.” 

“I was just going to mess with you,” Chanyeol chuckled, eyes bright as he reached over for Baekhyun’s hand now that his guitar was secure over his backpack.

Baekhyun knew he’d end up carrying the guitar within an hour despite their rule about unnecessary items. 

Anything that slowed Chanyeol down even _more_ was a hazard, so he took it upon himself when things got heavy. 

“I don’t need anything else, my love,” Chanyeol promised, bringing Baekhyun’s hand to his lips for a short kiss before absentmindedly looking around. 

The elder squeezed his palm and rubbed his thumb back and forth across Chanyeol's knuckles.

“You're turning into a hoarder, bunny,” Baekhyun chided playfully, reaching up to run his fingers over the shell of Chanyeol's ear, “Where will your clothes end up when your bag is full of games and comics.” 

“I’ll dump yours out and we’ll share mine.” 

Baekhyun laughed with his entire chest at the certainty in Chanyeol's voice, as if he’d considered such a thing before.

He snickered and opened his mouth to reply when there was soft moaning to their right.

A biter was slumped over a rail outside of a shop, reaching aimlessly out. It was starving, it’s hair looked brittle and at one point Baekhyun could have guessed it was a girl by the clothes it had on, but stuff like that hardly mattered and he preferred to label them as _it_ rather than he or she.

That way it felt like there was less to feel sorry about.

“I’ll take care of it,” Chanyeol muttered, stopping to put a hand out towards Baekhyun but the elder shook his head and reached back into the water bottle area of his pack.

He felt around for his knife but instead felt the cold metal of the only pistol they had.

“Baek…” 

“Chan, do you have my knife?”

“Baek, it’s not looking at _us.”_

Baekhyun eyes narrowed as he looked at Chanyeol and followed his eyes to where he was looking, but what he didn’t expect was a man looking at them, he wasn’t doing anything, just peering at them from the doorway of the shop next door to where the biter was slumped over. 

Baekhyun had his hand around his gun in an instant, yanking it out and aiming it square at the man's face. “Who are you!” 

“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” 

Baekhyun felt Chanyeol scoot closer to him, the larger placed his shoulder slightly in front of Baekhyun’s as three other people walked out from the shop, one of them had this joyful smile on his face.

Baekhyun felt like it was mocking, but he couldn’t be sure. 

“Jun! I thought we were gonna watch them for longer.” He commented, whining and using his long legs to jump right over the railing where the biter began to rabidly snarl.

Without blinking an eye the boy sunk a knife into the back of its neck and then the air was full of tension now that there were no other distractions. 

“Were you watching us?” Baekhyun hissed, lips curled up in a snarl, “Who the fuck are you? If you want to rob us then just know we have nothing but clothes.” 

_“His elbow is shaking.”_

Baekhyun’s eyes flickered to a shorter man, he had hair cropped all the way down to the scalp and cat-like, analyzing eyes. 

“His elbow is shaking because he is nervous.” The man repeated, brow raising a small bit, “I’m willing to bet it’s because there’s no ammo. You don’t even know how to use that thing, kid.” 

“We don’t want any trouble!” Chanyeol interrupted abruptly, placing a hand on the gun for Baekhyun to lower it. “Listen, the longer we sit here yelling the more time biters have to come after us. So if you’ll just let us by..”

 _“Like hell,”_ Baekhyun argued, scoffing and taking a big step in front of Chanyeol, “Why are you watching us?” 

“Your boy’s got a limp.” A small, round eyed man commented, he looked nonchalant and he was hovering closer to the boy with a wide smile, “I can look at it for you, if you want.” 

“Kyungsoo was a medic in the military,” The first man they encountered added fast, “My name is Kim Junmyeon, this is my family - Do Kyungsoo, Kim Jongin, Kim Minseok - we don’t want trouble, we just want to help.” 

“Last time I heard that my husband got this ankle,” Baekhyun growled, reaching behind himself to grab a handful of Chanyeol's shirt. “I think we’ll take our chances.”

“Aren’t you a little young to be married?” Minseok mused, cat-like eyes looking less than intimidating now.

“Aren’t you a little creepy to be stalking us?”

 _“Okay,”_ Jongin, who Baekhyun internally nicknamed _smiley,_ cut them off with a slight laugh, “Not to be that person, but the look on your husband’s face suggests he wants to get it looked at.” 

Baekhyun twisted to look at Chanyeol confused, brows furrowed, “Yeol?”

Chanyeol shuffled, he swayed back and forth on his feet in thought before he mumbled, “... it kind of hurts. Baek… can’t they just look? Maybe they can help.” 

_“Baby..”_ Baekhyun said under his breath, eyes soft but lit with worry, “I’m sorry, you know I am, but there’s nothing they can do, it’s already healed up-“

“We have painkillers and anti inflammatory medication if he needs it,” Kyungsoo hummed, a small smirk playing on his face, “Two things we know you’ll never find digging through these shops, hm? I remember the good old days where we thought _Ibuprofen will kill the virus!_ Now the supply is low and you have no choice, do you?” 

Baekhyun’s jaw clenched and the only reason he wasn’t hissing at him was because Kyungsoo didn’t sound mocking, he just sounded like he was interested in what was happening.

“Sweetheart…” Chanyeol licked his lips and nervously leaned down to Baekhyun’s level, “Can’t we just see?” 

“Okay, fine!” Baekhyun huffed and spun around to look at the group, “One wrong move and you’ll wish you kept to yourself.” 

***

They walked about a mile in silence to get to a small clearing where Baekhyun nearly backed out of his word immediately because he and Chanyeol avoided anywhere but the city. 

They were both city boys and had no life experience in the woods or away from power and running water, but these people _did._

Minseok had started a bonfire in minutes and explained that they actually found it safer in the woods because it was vast and the noises of animals in the woods drew away any biters that tried to come close.

Baekhyun had a feeling that it was also because of the biters - those that were alive - had begun to go to different extremes for their food though. They were moving out more, and quickly. 

He had to give Minseok props for his thinking though. 

“These two love birds can take my tent, I’ll room with Jongin,” Junmyeon commented across camp, pulling a duffle out of his tent and Baekhyun was instantly on edge.

“What’s that?”

“Huh?” The older man raised a brow before laughing a bit and shaking his head, “Relax, kid. It’s full of car parts - wanna see?”

Baekhyun lowered his gaze just a bit to instead watch Kyungsoo as he sat down with a first aid kit by Chanyeol's foot on the grass.

“So why are you guys out here?” Chanyeol wondered, seated at Baekhyun’s feet with his guitar and backpack tossed hazardously on the dirt beside him.

Baekhyun massaged his shoulders and internally wished he wouldn’t get so friendly with people. 

“We have this crane at our base,” Minseok murmured, “It shorted and we needed to head out for supplies anyway, so we came up here but then our truck died, we’ve been on foot ever since.”

“Why the hell would anyone need a crane?” Baekhyun scoffed, “Are you guys lifting buildings or something, what the hell?” 

Jongin chuckled, “Yeah, something like that.” 

“Shut up, Nini,” Kyungsoo sighed, rolling up Chanyeol’s pant leg, “We have a place on the harbor, it’s a shipping dock. We’re moving the containers around and building a wall with them, rest of ‘em get turned into homes.” 

“You're _living_ in shipping crates?”

“They’re more spacious than you think!” Jongin laughed, “Mine has a tv and everything, well… my roommate Sehun is always on it though…” 

“That’s cool,” Chanyeol's smile was huge, “What do you like to watch-“

“So why were you following us?” Baekhyun cut him off softly, moving a hand to pet Chanyeol’s hair out of his face and pinching his ear gently as a silent reminder not to get too friendly.

“Jongin is dramatic,” Junmyeon huffed, “We weren’t following long, we only noticed you guys about a week ago - when we’re looking for people to join us we obviously have to make sure they’re not up to shady business; you’d be surprised what we’ve seen.” 

_“Join!”_ Chanyeol squawked, smile bright as he tilted his head up to look at Baekhyun, but it quickly faltered when he saw Baekhyun wasn’t smiling. 

Baekhyun wasn’t responding at all. 

Luckily it seemed there were other things that needed to be addressed.

“How _old_ is this wound?” Kyungsoo demanded, “It’s still swollen, tell me it’s recent.”

Baekhyun winced, “Over a year.” 

Kyungsoo tsked to himself and began to feel around Chanyeol's ankle and that’s when Baekhyun heard a soft grunt of pain come from his lover.

He quickly shifted down to look at him only to find Chanyeol eyes watering and hands clenching in jeans. 

“Sh, I know, baby.” Baekhyun muttered, immediately dropping down to climb between Chanyeol's legs, bringing his husband's arms around his own waist and shushing, “Hold onto me. It doesn’t hurt me, you can squeeze as tight as you need.” 

Chanyeol never squeezed all that tight although Baekhyun knew it hurt an awful lot, but he did hold him and bury his head into the back of Baekhyun’s neck.

“Broken ankle?”

“I think so.” Baekhyun swallowed and rubbed his palms over Chanyeol’s thighs soothingly, “We didn’t have a medic so I had to brace it with two hardcover books… is it.. uh… too bad?” 

Kyungsoo glanced up at him and must have seen the fear in Baekhyun’s eyes because he shook his head and began to pull a roll of gauze from the first aid kit. “Well I can tell you it would have been a lot worse if you _didn’t_ do that, so there’s that, but there’s also the fact that it hasn’t fully healed after an entire year which is good and bad.”

“Bad first,” Baekhyun requested, eyes blown wide.

“Well, bad because that means he’s been walking on a broken ankle, he didn’t give it time to heal so it’s just inflamed and beginning to heal incorrectly which is probably the pain he keeps feeling because truthfully this isn’t _that_ bad of a fracture, I’ve seen worse, it’s the inflammation that worries me.” 

Baekhyun perked up, “He’ll be okay?” 

Kyungsoo stated at him for a good minute before he turned around to Jongin, “Kid, go find me two things that are flat and thin, like boards. We’re going to make a splint and Chanyeol will have to wear it as much as possible and take the anti-inflammatory medication I’m gonna give him twice a day, morning and night.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes flooded, but he looked away before anyone could see them, instead spinning around to grab Chanyeol’s face and press a smacking kiss to his lips.

“Baek.” Chanyeol laughed, eyes wet and cheeks rosy, “My ankle is gonna be okay.” 

“I know, baby.” Baekhyun whispered, voice barely audible as he added a kiss to Chanyeol’s nose and then nuzzled into his cheek. “Sweet baby.” 

***

Chanyeol's ankle put a damper on their plans to go searching for a car, because according to Junmyeon their base was way too far out for them to walk over, they could _try_ but there was no point when Chanyeol wasn’t supposed to walk for an entire week, but preferably longer according to Kyungsoo.

So they camped. 

Baekhyun didn’t mind the camping aspect much, he could go a while without electronics but Chanyeol was practically losing his mind and used up two charged batteries for his DS already.

And when Baekhyun woke up this morning Chanyeol had been missing from the tent and when he peeked out he saw him explaining to Jongin how to play it while Kyungsoo was cooking breakfast.

He didn’t know what to do about that, he and Chanyeol needed to have a serious talk but it was difficult to get him away and in private when he had to wobble his way everywhere.

“So how many people do you have?” 

Baekhyun blanched at Chanyeol's question, pretending he hadn’t heard it at all as he made himself a bowl of canned chili. 

He’d heard Junmyeon teasing Kyungsoo about missing real food earlier and it left Baekhyun wondering what kind of _real food_ they were referring to considering he and Chanyeol just invaded restaurants and ate whatever they could find.

“We have uh… what’s it count at now, Min?” Junmyeon asked.

“Well, Jaemin and Mark's group was seven.. so I’m going to have to say about twenty three? Twenty five? Something like that.” 

Baekhyun _choked_ on the cracker he’d just put in his mouth, coughing and holding his bowl tightly as he walked over to Chanyeol. “Twenty _five?”_

“Yeah?” Minseok raised a brow, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s just lots of people!” Chanyeol pointed out, his voice was muffled by the food in his cheeks, the reason Baekhyun called him _chipmunk_ so often.

His cheeks got all cutely puffed out when he ate and Baekhyun thought it was the cutest sight he’d ever seen. 

“Really? You two must’ve been alone a long time, huh?” 

Neither he or Chanyeol responded and it seemed they took that as a sign to be quiet. 

The only noises now were the crackling of the fire and the sound of Jongin playing on Chanyeol's DS.

Baekhyun sighed and took a seat beside Chanyeol, leaning against him. After a moment he felt Chanyeol press a kiss to his hair as Baekhyun was mid chew so the smaller swallowed and shifted to press a kiss to his chubby cheek with a mumbled, _“Chipmunk,”_ just to tease him. 

Chanyeol loved all forms of teasing so long as he got attention though. 

“How long have you guys been together?” Kyungsoo wondered from across the fire. 

Baekhyun didn’t even know what year it was anymore, he just knew it was getting colder out so it had to be nearing fall. 

“Since high school.” He answered, feeling Chanyeol place his chin onto his shoulder, and that in his book normally meant _pay attention to me,_ so Baekhyun lifted a spoonful for his husband to eat. 

“How old are you?”

“Is this twenty one questions?” Baekhyun shot back.

“No need to get so fiesty, we don’t bite.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes narrowed and he knew he was being sensitive, but he couldn’t help it and placed his bowl on Chanyeol's lap. “If you did I would’ve killed you on the spot,” He said to Kyungsoo, pressing a swift kiss to Chanyeol’s mouth before standing up.

Chanyeol grabbed his arm with a worried expression.

Baekhyun tweaked his nose and shook his head a bit, “I’m going to bed, call for me if you need help getting in. I love you.” 

“I love you..” Chanyeol replied, looking slightly sad at his absence but he let Baekhyun got into the tent anyway.

“He sure is antisocial isn’t he?” Baekhyun heard Minseok ask.

“He’ll warm up..” Chanyeol muttered.

Baekhyun sighed and threw his cheek down against the layer of blankets in the tent. 

_Chanyeol, why do you have to be so friendly?_ He worried.

***

On the fourth day of camping, Baekhyun got sick. 

He wasn’t sure if it was just because of all of the pollen and bugs out here, or if he’d been coming down with the cold for a while, but he’d woken up to Chanyeol telling him he was shaking yet sweating.

Kyungsoo came in to check his temperature and found it at about 101 which was typical of a cold and Baekhyun’s runny nose and red eyes confirmed his diagnosis.

So he’d had people in and out all day. 

It was really disorienting because most of the time he thought it was Chanyeol coming to feel his head and giving him a water bottle, but at one point he remembered Jongin peeking in and then Minseok yelling, _“Kid! You better let him sleep!”_

But now he was up, cold, and finally getting into the package of crackers sitting by his head. 

It must have been dark out already, because he could see the orange of the fire through the tent by his feet, but he could barely hear talking over Chanyeol playing with his guitar.

_“Chanyeol.”_

And then the guitar sound was stopping and Baekhyun nearly stopped chewing because it was so silent until he remembered everyone thought he was asleep. 

“Yeah, Junmyeon?”

“Do you want to come back with us?”

“Uh…” The uncertainty in Chanyeol's voice made Baekhyun’s heart tighten up, “I don’t know.. I’ll have to talk with Baek.” 

“Baekhyun must really hate us, huh?” 

“Oh! It’s not you… Baek just.. he..” Chanyeol did this slight click of his tongue that Baekhyun knew was usually accompanied by this puppy-like tilt of his head to the side. “He has a hard time trusting people.” 

“It’s because of your ankle, isn’t it?”

Baekhyun pressed his lips together and shifted to sit up on his knees to move closer to the zipper of the tent to listen in.

“Okay, well… I don’t think Baekhyun is going to tell you guys, so I’ll do it.”

Chanyeol sounded embarrassed and nervous and Baekhyun wanted to tell him he didn’t need to be considering it wasn’t his fault at all.

“About a year ago me and Baekhyun met this couple, we traveled together since we had a car that worked, we just wanted to be nice. 

They were kind and everything, but we didn’t really… get to _know_ them, we kind of stuck to ourselves and they stuck to themselves, we just traveled together and rationed. And then.. Baek was sleeping really heavy one night, but I couldn’t sleep and I walked out of the room we were staying in and they saw I was up and asked if I wanted to help them clear the store across the street. 

I… I said _sure,_ it wasn’t something out of the normal, so I did. I didn’t think too much about it or about how the stores lock was broken already; I didn’t realize until later that Baekhyun said he’d checked the store out and there was a room of biters so he left… 

They asked me to go first, into that room, I think it was an accident, but I don’t know - as soon as I opened the door it was a handful of hungry _things_ coming at me, I tried to run, but my ankle got twisted and I barely escaped. I probably wouldn’t have if Baekhyun hadn’t woken up when he did to come check on me…” 

“What happened to the couple?” 

Chanyeol cleared his throat and Baekhyun couldn’t stand how uncomfortable he sounded and began to open the tent. “Well, they took off right after. They knew Baekhyun would have killed them if something happened to me-“

 _“Yeol.”_ Baekhyun called, voice cracking a bit and peeking his head out, “Can you come to bed, baby?” He asked, beginning to stand up intending to help his clumsy, hurt husband back to the tent when Minseok stopped him with a quiet tsk.

“You, stay in that tent, I got him.” He ordered.

Baekhyun found it slightly amusing watching Chanyeol use Minseok like a crutch, but he didn’t comment because he knew he looked like that when trying to help Chanyeol too.

It was unfair how his husband could be so huge but such a sweetheart. 

_“Hey,”_ Minseok murmured as soon as Baekhyun went to zip the tent shut behind Chanyeol, “You feeling okay?” 

“Yeah. Thanks.” Baekhyun said, a slight air of confusion in his tone, “Just tired.”

“Alright, let us know if you need anything.”

Baekhyun stared for a minute before giving a stiff nod and turning to zip up the small tent, carefully turning around to watch Chanyeol tug off his top.

“How’s your ankle?”

“Don't you baby me when you’ve been sick all day, I was going to baby you. Let me do the worrying for once!” Chanyeol complained, huffing.

Baekhyun shook his head and gently moved Chanyeol’s ankle into his lap to undo his bandaged ankle. 

The two wooden boards that encased his ankle were mostly supportive, what was really helpful was the compression sock Junmyeon had found yesterday in town. 

It was helping keep the swelling to a minimum and Baekhyun hadn’t heard Chanyeol complain about pain even once.

“Shut up, you're such a child.” Baekhyun rolled his eyes and pushed the homemade splint to the side before laying down and opening his arms.

Chanyeol settled down and laid down on Baekhyun’s chest, bringing a hand up to feel the elders temperature but he must have found it better than earlier because he hummed to himself after a moment and instead went to pet Baekhyun’s hair out of his face.

“Are you going to be okay scavenging with us in the next few days? We can’t stay here much longer. We need to find a working car.” 

_“We?”_

Baekhyun swallowed and stared up at the ceiling of the tent. “You seem like you want to stay.” 

Chanyeol went silent for a moment, thinking, before he sighed softly, “I just like to talk to people, Baek. I know that… you don’t like to talk much and I hate to bother you, but sometimes I just want to talk, baby.. I know you don’t mean to, but.. you know, I feel bad.” 

Baekhyun sighed and scratched Chanyeol's scalp but he couldn’t exactly deny such a thing seeing as Chanyeol was right.

He wasn’t much for talking, but Chanyeol loved to talk and he rambled which sometimes did bother Baekhyun. Sometimes he did snap at him for getting on his nerves.

“Okay.” Baekhyun whispered with a slightly apologetic tone, pressing a kiss down onto the crown of his head. “We’ll stay, but if I see something I don’t like then we’re leaving, deal?”

_“Deal.”_

***

They spent three more days camping out before packing up and starting on the road again, and for once their voices didn’t bother Baekhyun. 

They weren’t asking too many questions, they weren’t being annoying, they were just _talking._

Baekhyun didn’t mind that as long as they weren’t digging their noses where they didn’t belong.

But Chanyeol, sweet Chanyeol, liked to give details away that made Baekhyun want to rip his hair out.

He told them all about how he and Baekhyun liked to hide out in places higher up, they always chose hotel rooms on the top floors, and that they’d learned loud noises and lights distracted the creatures.

Kyungsoo found that strange, he said they didn’t normally spend much time watching the biters and that they didn’t have many down on the harbor.

Baekhyun pretended he didn’t peek up at that admission, but it was interesting.

He and Chanyeol were _done_ with biters. Their first few years out here the population was much worse, and while now they were lucky to just walk right past them, years before they did actively have to avoid walking on streets and instead find temporary homes in hotels or apartment complexes.

It was probably why they still tended to hide out - it was just reflex at this point.

“So what are we looking for?” Baekhyun asked, cringing as he opened up a car door and peeled the body out of the car.

“If the car starts then Jongin knows how to siphon gas from other cars for it; we just need a working one.” Junmyeon answered.

Baekhyun raised a brow and twisted to look across the highway they were on to find Chanyeol, only to sigh and roll his eyes when he noticed he and Jongin were sharing snacks.

He’d _told_ Chanyeol to save their rations, but for him it went in one ear and out the other.

“He knows how to siphon gas?” Baekhyun snickered and climbed into the driver's seat, “He acts like a kid.” 

“Well that’s because Jongin is only-“

The sound of a horn blaring cut off Junmyeon and Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he turned the key inside of the car he’d chosen. 

Of course that didn’t work, it didn’t even light up the dashboard. 

Baekhyun groaned and dropped his forehead onto the steering wheel for a moment, taking a breath before he lost his mind considering this was the fourth hour they spent mindlessly walking and testing out cars.

It’d been so long since the cars moved that most of them were completely unusable with their engines not turning over or they were rusted out and their tires were too flat.

They just had to get lucky.

He climbed out of the car, his backpack jostling loudly on his shoulders as he slumped across the pavement towards Chanyeol.

Despite Kyungsoo saying a week and a half was a long enough break and had given Chanyeol’s ankle a chance to start healing correctly, everyone just had him sit back and rest while they searched - well, minus Jongin, because the other was on Chanyeol's tail all the time.

“Yeol,” Baekhyun slid onto the hood of the red car Chanyeol was sitting on to press his chin against his shoulder. “What’re you doing, my love?” 

He saw Jongin on Chanyeol's other side look up at him through his long hair and Baekhyun raised a brow when he smiled brightly and said, “We’re sorting comics, Chanyeol said I could borrow them, Baekhyun!”

Baekhyun, internally cringing at his enthusiasm, nodded and turned his head to hide his face in Chanyeol's cheek.

“Baek doesn’t like comics and he doesn’t like _toys,_ he’s so boring!” 

Baekhyun snorted into Chanyeol's skin before pecking his cheek that was rosy from the cold, “We have more important things to worry about, baby.” 

“Not _me,”_ Chanyeol pointed out, “I’m deadweight. I walk at a snail pace and now everyone is carrying my stuff too! I have nothing else to do.” 

It was true, Baekhyun had set Chanyeol's guitar down as soon as they began to scavenge the cars, and he’d debated taking his backpack from him too, but didn’t have the strength for all of that.

He just wanted Chanyeol’s ankle to get better faster because he wouldn’t lie and say he didn’t miss his lover being able to walk faster than him.

Chanyeol had these long legs that made his steps double Baekhyun’s own, and in school Baekhyun used to complain for him to slow down when they tried to hurry to their classes.

They always ended up late and told each other they’d stop sneaking into janitor closets to kiss, but ended up late again only days later. It was fine because when they got detention for being tardy at least they got it _together._

“You aren’t deadweight,” Jongin frowned and his expression looked like an upset puppy, “If Soo says your leg will be okay then it will be, and when it’s healed you can help out more. For now it’s okay to just play games.”

Jongin made it sound so simple. He had that sort of innocent tone that made Baekhyun tilt his head and wonder internally why that could be.

Even Baekhyun would never tell Chanyeol it was okay to just sit here and play games.. sometimes it was okay, like when they were safe and in a shelter, but not out here.

Chanyeol coped by staying how he used to be. He collected his comics, played games, and held onto things he used to love as a teenager.

Baekhyun coped by _changing._ He no longer went outside and took pictures of plants to see their progress, he no longer created these years long experiments to see what made plants grow faster. 

What use was that? _None_ considering he didn’t have all the time in the world.

Baekhyun wished Chanyeol would let go of the past a little _more._

He wished Chanyeol would grow up and take things more seriously, but the one time he’d tried to gently say as much Chanyeol had cried and looked so unhappy to replace his handheld games with more important things like flashlights.

It ended up with Baekhyun silently repacking his bag when Chanyeol was asleep, adding back in all of his random and unimportant things and leaving behind a spare blanket and flashlights because they suddenly didn’t seem that important anymore.

The next few days they were cold while they walked to their next home, but Chanyeol had a big smile when he told Baekhyun all about his Deadpool comic, so it was worth it.

“You guys are so _cute.”_

Chanyeol began to laugh and Baekhyun pulled back with a confused look to acknowledge Jongin.

Jongin had his eyes glued onto the comic in his hands, “Minseok says that’s what happens when people really love each other, like him and Dae.”

“Well, don’t you have someone you want to be with?” Chanyeol laughed, “I feel like things are easier now than they were when I was your age.”

“The only person I hangout with a lot is Sehun. But he doesn’t talk a lot so..” 

Baekhyun had heard this name many times recently and was growing more and more confused, “Jongin, who is-“

 _“Hell yeah!”_ Kyungsoo screamed from a ways away and within a second there was a loud _roar_ of an engine that made them all look.

It was a truck. A _huge_ truck. Kyungsoo looked ridiculous peeking his head out of the huge window, and it was the first time Baekhyun took notice of the fact that his smile was somewhat _cute_ and _youthful._

Baekhyun was incredibly confused.

“Well!” Kyungsoo laughed, “Get your asses in before it decides not to start you bunch of idiots!” 

***

Riding in the back of a truck really hurts your ass after a while. He and Chanyeol were feeling it badly, his lower back hurt, but the only good thing was that there was plenty of room for them to spread out. It was the reason Baekhyun had jumped on claiming the truck bed.

He was hoping after this it wouldn’t be as bad because they were walking through a three story shopping mall and Baekhyun had a cart full of pillows to use as a cushion.

They had to stop to pick up some more food supplies and it never hurt to stock up on extra things.

“Oh _shit.”_

Baekhyun sighed as he looked through the glass window of the shop, seeing Chanyeol’s shoulders deflate. 

The comic store had a handful of biters, alive ones that groaned and had skin the color of ash.

“I’m sorry, baby. Maybe next time,” Baekhyun said gently, grabbing Chanyeol’s sleeve to pull him back towards the side of his cart. 

“How do you think they’re alive?” Junmyeon wondered, walking right past them towards a set of stairs. 

“They’re eating each other.” Kyungsoo supplied, pointing a finger at the window, “Bunch of dead ones in there.” 

Chanyeol gagged and Baekhyun snickered and rubbed his back as he parked his cart at the bottom of the stairs. “Come on, up we go.” 

“The map said there’s a restaurant up here!” Jongin cried and ran past them to stomp up the stairs rather loudly.

Chanyeol turned to give Baekhyun puppy eyes and he laughed and began to help him up the short set of stairs to the upper level.

It did seem the entire floor above was a restaurant, only there was this god awful scent of mildew and Baekhyun instantly scrunched his face up.

“Packaged things only!” Minseok ordered, looking like he may puke, “Baekhyun, you two go right, we’ll go left. Let’s hope they have alcohol.” 

Baekhyun nearly laughed, a comment about also needing a drink sitting on his tongue as he walked over to an old dining table to look at the basket of an array of packaged items.

It was sad for him to see such a fancy restaurant go downhill like this.

He always wondered if things hadn’t gone to shit whether he and Chanyeol would’ve come to a restaurant like this after senior prom or graduation, but things never got that far.

Their plans never got to go far at all. Baekhyun was meticulous and had a whiteboard in his room that had exactly what they would be doing for prom and graduation, he’d been so excited because his parents were really strict and never let him stay out too late with Chanyeol.

But they agreed for special occasions he could.

Prom was supposed to be where they’d sleep together for the first time, it was one of Baekhyun’s dreams - to have a special day that ended even more special, he’d made Chanyeol wait long enough up until then.

Chanyeol used to think he was silly with all of his lists and strict life goals, but he respected them, and Baekhyun appreciated that because prior to Chanyeol he’d only had two boyfriends; both of whom broke up with him when he told them he didn’t have sex.

Maybe he was prude, but it was just because he had things to accomplish before entertaining the idea of _love_ or _sex._

So Chanyeol threw him for a spin, but a welcomed one. A sweet and goofy and sometimes _annoying_ spin, but Baekhyun wouldn’t take back any of it. 

He sighed and grabbed a handful of sugar packets off the table to shove into his pocket - he wasn’t exactly sure what the others were looking for in terms of supplies, but sugar was still calories, so they were worth something.

 _“Chanyeol! Come look at this!”_ He heard Jongin laugh, but Baekhyun ignored it because he was growing fairly used to Chanyeol and Jongin's back and forth.

He didn’t know games could make friends so fast, but Chanyeol was so likeable that he always had a lot of friends. 

“Baek,” Junmyeon started up, walking up behind him with a plastic bottle in hand, “I just found these drinks, you should have one and get your calories up. I saw you give up your lunch-“

Crackling sounded. The sound of wood breaking and giving out. 

Considering this place was worn in from the beginning they should have been more cautious, but when the floor in the corner sunk in and he heard a deep, scared yell of his name Baekhyun’s heart fell to his feet.

“Chanyeol! Yeol!” Jongin screamed.

Baekhyun shrieked and dropped everything he had to run across the restaurant.

The wood floor was blackened and molded in the corner, like something had once been spilled there and it corroded the paneling. 

Only now there was a huge hole that sucked Chanyeol right through it, into the comic store down below that he _knew_ had at least five living biters.

 _“Yeol!”_ Baekhyun cried, throwing his backpack off and grabbing his knife from the pocket, but before he could jump down into the hole Minseok was yanking him back by his coat.

“Are you crazy! The last thing we need is two people stuck down there!” Minseok yelled.

“Don’t you _fucking touch me!”_ Baekhyun yelled, jumping to his feet with his eyes narrowed and wet, “You're insane if you think I’m not going down there! Get out of my way!” 

_“Baek!”_ Chanyeol's voice echoed from the hole, “Baek! I.. I think I’m in a managers room or something! I can hear them hitting the door, but I’m not… I’m okay! I’m okay!” 

That was probably supposed to calm Baekhyun down, but nothing was going to calm him down until he had Chanyeol up here and _safe._

“I got him,” Kyungsoo walked by and delivered a squeeze to Baekhyun’s shoulder but was taking off and getting into the hole in an instant.

Baekhyun scowled and rushed to lean over the hole as soon as he heard the sound of metal being pushed around.

He peered down and saw Kyungsoo and Chanyeol moving a desk under the hole, and _stacks and stacks_ of dead bodies. If Baekhyun had to guess he would assume it was a family who probably had been trapped by the creatures banging at the door. 

“Baby, come on - c-come here,” Baekhyun’s voice shook as he grabbed the back of Chanyeol's coat to help pull him out of the hole.

Chanyeol was much bigger than him so Baekhyun knew he was mostly getting in the way, but there was blood all over Chanyeol’s clothes and Baekhyun’s hands wouldn’t stop shaking and not a _thing_ mattered more than seeing Chanyeol.

“Sh, Baek, ‘m okay.” Chanyeol gave a breathy laugh, his eyes still wide with fear as he leaned back against the wall behind him to catch his breath. “You're so cute when you worry.” 

Baekhyun went to laugh, but it came out as a sob and he cupped his face to brush blood from his cheek.

“Really.” Chanyeol said adamantly, expression becoming more concerned as Baekhyun’s tears stained his cheeks, “I’m okay. My ankle too. Those.. things broke my fall, I’m all good. Baek.. Baekhyun, don’t cry.. sweetheart.” 

It was impossible for him _not_ to cry. Chanyeol was all he had left and this wasn’t the first time Baekhyun had to feel this fear consume him over Chanyeol’s nearly dying.

If the floor had been only _feet_ away Chanyeol would have been gone at the snap of a finger, fed to biters without so much as a scream.

And the thought of Chanyeol turning into one of those things was far more terrifying than even the thought of dying. 

It was awkward for onlookers to watch, because Baekhyun didn’t seem the type to cry. So Junmyeon cleared his throat and very quietly murmured, “Jongin, go clean out the kitchen.” 

And then Baekhyun’s nostrils flared. His body sang with _anger_ and he pulled himself away from Chanyeol with fists clenched. _“You!”_ He seethed, “You set us up! You fucker-“

“Baekhyun!” 

Everyone screamed as Baekhyun launched at Jongin, throwing a fist right at the other’s face. It landed, but Baekhyun grabbed a fistful of his shirt and screamed an angry noise as he lifted his other hand.

“Stop! What the hell! Nobody knew about that!” Minseok yelled, his tone was incredibly loud and booming, absolutely enraged.

Baekhyun flailed and kicked when arms grabbed his waist, his feet weren’t even touching the floor at this point, but he wouldn’t risk hit chanyeol so he went limp, face red and covered in tears and a dangerous scowl, “Are you trying to get us killed! This was your idea and your _stupid_ groups idea!” 

“Jongin's just a kid!” Kyungsoo came around to grab Jongin's wrist and pull him a good foot back, “He got excited! He didn’t know Chanyeol could get hurt! You’re a fucking psychopath!”

 _“Baek.. he’s only sixteen..”_ Chanyeol whispered into his hair, arms so tight around his waist they could potentially bruise.

Baekhyun’s mouth opened, but fell closed as he dropped his chin to his chest and began to cry harder. 

“We’re really sorry,” Chanyeol spoke up, “He.. he didn’t know, I can.. we can explain ourselves.. he.. we’re just protective of one another.” 

“Yeah..” Junmyeon clicked his tongue and scooped Baekhyun’s backpack off the floor, “Well we don’t play these games. Where we’re from we are family and if you _both_ can’t care about the whole family, then you don’t deserve a family at all. We can’t have people that only care about each other with us, we are _one_ family.” He shoved Baekhyun’s backpack into his chest and walked out. 

***

Jongin's cheek was bruised. And Baekhyun felt sick.

It occurred to him that these people were a lot younger than he’d originally thought. 

Kyungsoo was only twenty one, he was a medic in the military - but he had only been in military training for a year when he was in high school, he’d never officially joined.

Minseok was the oldest at age thirty, he and Junmyeon both used to work at a school before all this, he used and Junmyeon used to be the principal and vice principal; Baekhyun figured that explained their “I’m the leader,” attitudes.

Chanyeol was disappointed in him, it showed in how his husband didn’t want to speak to him all night and Baekhyun had tried multiple times.

The only time Chanyeol spoke up was when Baekhyun said he wanted to leave. And Chanyeol shot back with a _“Why? Because you’re scared to get attached?”_

Baekhyun was scared of that, so he couldn’t give a real reason.

He knew Chanyeol wanted to stay. He wanted a home. They’d told them a lot about this amazing place with people, food, power, it sounded too good to be true.

He understood why Chanyeol wanted it, but at the same time Baekhyun had horrible luck, and he was scared of getting comfortable only for things to go to _shit_ again.

Either way, he couldn’t ignore the fact he’d hit a child, even if he truthfully didn’t know.

Jongin didn’t scream _teenager_ to him. He was smart and was the one that took care of car troubles, he more often than not was found reading these books on mechanics, and it didn’t help that he was such a tall teenager - he was nearing Chanyeol's height and wasn’t lanky like Chanyeol was as a teen, he had muscles and it suggested he worked hard.

Baekhyun supposed a world like this must have changed things for teenagers, they had to work for what they needed, they didn’t get to sit down and play video games all day.

He should have seen the signs like Jongin’s genuine curiosity towards Chanyeol’s games and comics, as if he’d never really seen them before, the fact that Jongin had a lopsided, childlike grin, and he tried to talk to Baekhyun so much. 

Baekhyun felt really guilty about that one. When he was a teenager he wanted to fit in with the adults too, and Jongin had been very curious of him. 

He tried to sneak into his and Chanyeol’s conversations, sit next to him at dinner, and more than once he’d tried to ask things he probably thought Baekhyun would be okay to share - like about their relationship, or if Baekhyun liked to read, such simple questions.

Baekhyun ignored him, Chanyeol answered him instead.

The only right thing he could do was apologize, and seeing as they were at a gas station resting this was his only chance.

Chanyeol was still asleep in the back of the truck so Baekhyun carefully jumped out and walked slowly over to the wooded area beside the gas station.

The group looked like they were caught doing something bad when he approached and Baekhyun didn’t doubt that they were debating whether or not to even let them go further with them.

He couldn’t blame them, he’d have kicked himself out too.

“Hey,” Baekhyun swallowed and wrapped his arms around his own waist, “I just want to apologize.” 

“You don’t need to apologize, you were scar-“

Baekhyun shook his head at Junmyeon, he knew he was trying to be nice, but that was such a lie. “No, I do.” He answered shortly, turning to look at Jongin, and the teenager sort of folded up on himself and looked down at the package of chips in his hand instead.

Baekhyun felt like _shit._

“I’m so sorry, Jongin,” Baekhyun whispered, coming closer to brush fingertips over his bruised cheek, “I’m sincerely sorry. I’m not going to make excuses, but I want you to know I didn’t mean it. Chanyeol is very special to me, so I was afraid. I’m sure you know people do irrational things when they’re afraid.”

He’d noticed before that Jongin's eyes were oddly innocent for a world like this, and now that Baekhyun knew why his stomach churned even harder. 

“It’s okay.” Jongin shuffled a bit, “I just want you to be okay.” 

Baekhyun’s brows pulled together, and when he laughed a bit it was riddled with guilt, “I’m okay. Are you okay?” 

Jongin nodded, shooting his eyes up to Baekhyun’s before down at his shoes in a shy action. 

It was really cute, Baekhyun smiled and squeezed his arm.

“So here's the problem then,” Minseok said, a slight sigh to his voice that suggested he didn’t want to talk about this topic, “Chanyeol is special to you, Baekhyun. We get that. But we need you to tell us right now if there’s no room for anyone else to be “special” to you. We can’t have someone in our camp that is willing to throw us to the biters at first chance.. let me…” He snorted a bit and licked his lips, “Let me tell you the truth. You don’t need to care about every single person there, okay? Twenty plus people.. it’s a lot.. But _our family_ has seven, it can be nine if you both show up. That’s kind of how it works, when we bring people in, they join our family, so you have to open your heart to people other than Chanyeol. I don’t know if you’re capable of that.” 

Baekhyun’s shoulders straightened out and his hands went to yank his sleeves over his palms awkwardly before he gulped and folded his arms over his stomach, “I.. I had other people who were special to me before.” 

Nobody replied because Baekhyun’s voice cracked and he pressed his lips together before murmuring, “A little brother.” 

“You don’t have to tell us anything,” Junmyeon stated, “That’s your business.” 

“No.. I have to,” Baekhyun argued, eyes glossy, “I.. I don’t want you to think that I.. I don’t know, I wouldn’t ever hit a kid. I didn’t mean to-“

“Baekhyun, nobody thinks you meant to hurt Jongin.” 

Baekhyun shrugged, and it was obvious he was riddled with guilt when he brought his sleeve to his mouth. “My.. my brother would’ve been about.. thirteen now, I.. I’m so sorry, I’m _sorry..”_ He trailed off and began to cry, “I wouldn’t.. I’m not going to hurt anyone. I just.. I just don’t want to lose anyone else to- to this fucking _shit._ It’s so.. frustrating, you know? I don’t know what happened to him, I just know it was all covered in _blood_ and I didn’t get to say goodbye-“

_“Baek!”_

Baekhyun tried to wipe his tears away quickly, because he didn’t like to worry Chanyeol too much. “Hold on, let someone help you out,” He requested, back to him as he hurried to wipe his face.

This was Chanyeol though, and he always knew what was up immediately, so it didn’t matter if he wiped his tears away, he noticed them as soon as he came over.

It also didn’t help that everyone was staring at Baekhyun like _what do we do._

“Baek?” Chanyeol worried, pulling him into his chest, “You okay?” 

“Yeah..” Baekhyun sniffed and turned to hug his waist, “I’m okay, baby. Don’t worry.” 

“He was just.. telling us a bit.. about _himself..”_ Minseok supplied, sounding less sure of himself and more scared Baekhyun was going to burst into tears again.

Chanyeol released a soft, _“Oh..”_ and nodded against Baekhyun’s hair.

It was quiet for a bit longer before the sound of feet shuffling and the crinkling of a bag sounded, “Baekhyun..” Jongin mumbled, “Do you want to hear about everyone else? Um.. my friend Sehun, he’s really shy, but I think you might like him.” 

“Ah, going to embarrass Sehun are we?” Junmyeon laughed, “But Jongin is right, Sehun needs more friends. He’s really shy, it’s hard to make friends when you’re the youngest though.” 

Baekhyun licked his chapped lips and shifted out of Chanyeol's chest to reach over and grab Jongin's sleeve, “You can ride in the back with us so we can talk, Nini.” 

Jongin's smile lit up.


	2. Chapter 2

“Ah! No, stop!” Baekhyun laughed and shoved Kyungsoo back, “I got it! I got it!” 

“Geez, is this what we get for trying to help, Baek?” Kyungsoo complained playfully, giving a roll of his eyes before snagging a handful of bedding from the back of the truck anyway.

Baekhyun pouted, but he couldn’t really complain considering they’d need to empty everything out now that they’d finally, after nearly three weeks, arrived at the harbor.

And  _ boy  _ they hadn’t been joking. 

The shipping port was on the other side of a mountain on a harbor, so it took awhile to get here, but god the drive had been gorgeous.

Despite all the hanging highway signs, the falling buildings, and grass beginning to work it's way through pavement, it had been  _ gorgeous  _ driving over the mountain to get to the harbor.

They’d parked right outside of the sanctuary and Baekhyun could already tell how humongous it was. 

Rows of forty foot metal shipping containers were piled one on top of the other three layers high around the perimeter of the port.

But it was obvious where they’d been forced to stop their construction because of the crane malfunctioning, the entire right side of what was likely supposed to be the wall only had one container worth of height, it was about six feet tall.

Baekhyun was amazed. It seemed perfect, everything seemed perfect. 

They had a wall of woods at the entrance and the other side was all water, there was only one way biters or intruders could come from.

The only thing left was to go inside.

Baekhyun took a deep breath. It felt cold from the sea breeze but it only made him smile wider as he approached Chanyeol who was grabbing his guitar from the back.

“Baby,” Baekhyun murmured, a duffle on his shoulder and pillow under his arm as he reached over for Chanyeol’s hand, “Ready?”

A grin spread across Chanyeol's face and when he laughed the sound was more excited than normal. “Am I ready to not have to move around anymore? What kind of trick question is that, my love?”

Baekhyun couldn't help himself and stood on his toes to press a lasting kiss onto Chanyeol's mouth.

It felt different than normal.  _ Happier. _

Intertwining his fingers with Chanyeol's they began to walk towards the opening of a shipping container that was turned so it had the opening facing the outside, like a long metal hallway they had to get through to get inside.

And when they got to the other side there was so much noise.

Talking and laughing.  _ People -  _ so many that Baekhyun couldn’t even recall when the last time it was he saw such happiness.

_ “Min!”  _ Baekhyun squeezed Chanyeol’s hand out of reflex at the sudden yell before he saw a man, probably about his size, go running at Minseok to smack into his chest in a hug.

Jongdae. That had to be him. He heard about Minseok's husband and his cat-like smile and constant pranks.

Baekhyun had heard about all the people he needed to meet. It made him anxious, but at the same time… as long as he didn’t need to  _ care  _ about most of these people he didn’t care.

The requirement was seven. Just seven people. 

He convinced himself he could care about seven other people, because he had to. For Chanyeol he had to earn their keep.

“Come on.” 

Baekhyun jolted and yanked his other arm away when fingers touched his wrist, but the familiar snicker he heard made him relax.

“Get your ass over here, I’m trying to save you from being hounded on the first day,” Junmyeon rolled his eyes, curling his hand around Baekhyun’s wrist. “Unless you want to be put on stage?”

“I’d rather listen to Kyungsoo rant about all the different types of germs on the human body again,” Baekhyun replied.

“Ah, that always leaves my skin itching.” 

Baekhyun laughed, sparing a glance at Chanyeol but his husband seemed  _ amazed  _ by what was going on, his eyes were bright and reflecting all of the Christmas lights that were strung along the tops of the containers.

There were some plastic chairs around the tops of the containers too and Baekhyun wondered if they were for keeping guard or future use? 

It would be smart to be prepared, although with walls made of steel this was the safest they could ever be. 

Even if the creatures were weak and mostly dying out, you could never be too prepared. And Baekhyun kept having these worries about what would happen once the creatures all died out - would the humans begin to roam again, only this time feral and deranged?

There was a reason Junmyeon had his group watch him and Chanyeol for a while after all, they could be thieves or  _ worse.  _

“So, here’s how things go.” Junmyeon began, walking them through a few more open hallways of containers, “We have the housing areas separated, I’m gonna put you guys with us - hope you like the color blue because that’s what color your crate is.” 

“Blue is Chanyeol’s favorite,” Baekhyun said softly, giving Chanyeol’s hand a tug to have him continue on down the maze of colored metal.

It would be difficult to get the hang of the layout, it looked  _ huge  _ from the outside.

He wondered if this was supposed to be more of a town than a sanctuary, because if they properly straighten things out then they could easily fit hundreds behind these walls.

For some reason, the thought of having that many people around scared Baekhyun more than made him comfortable. 

“Good. Sehun stole the last green one,” Junmyeon joked, pointing his finger down a small pathway, “Bathrooms and showers are that way. Water pressure kinda sucks, but we’re working on it. There’s a cooking area beside our small… should I say.. quad area? Basically, we split the housing areas into sections.” 

“You have enough food to have separate cooking areas?” Chanyeol gawked.

“We aren’t exactly low on food, Yeol,” Junmyeon laughed, “Who’s around to eat it but us? You think cannibals like flesh or chips better?” 

Baekhyun began to laugh and Chanyeol’s ears turned slightly red before Junmyeon shook his head teasingly, “Jokes aside, when we found this place at least half of these containers had things in them, and about ten of them were shipments of non perishables. There are docking ships on the Eastern side that we haven’t even gotten to yet, but it’s probably something like food. Seems like whoever was here before us had somewhere they were trying to escape to and didn't make it back.  _ Anyway…”  _

Junmyeon clicked his tongue before he was releasing Baekhyun to wave his arm at an opening between two containers, “Keep your lovey stuff on the down low, the kids container is only four away from yours, now have at it.” 

For once, Baekhyun’s own cheeks turned magenta at the comment although he knew Junmyeon was just fucking with them. He grumbled when the elder took off and sighed as he let go of Chanyeol to run a hand down his face. 

“This place is a maze!” 

“Don't get yourself lost, chipmunk.” Baekhyun ordered, walking off into the opening.

It was a square, open area with concrete beneath their feet, but there were seven containers parallel to each other, each one with the opening facing outwards and about eight feet of space between each one.

There was only one with the huge, metal opening still open. 

_ “Baek it’s ours!”  _ Chanyeol began to take off in front of him with his guitar banging on his back and Baekhyun groaned because Kyungsoo had only  _ just  _ given him the okay to walk normally on his ankle.

But Baekhyun didn’t scold him because the smile that was spreading on his own face was uncontrollable as he raced behind him.

_ “Woah!”  _

Chanyeol's voice echoed off the metal box with awe, “Look, there’s... there’s! Lights! And.. even shelves! Baek, it’s a real home!” 

Baekhyun never thought he'd consider any place so  _ small  _ a home. 

It was about eight feet high, and about forty feet long. It was small for a place they would have to consider home, but somehow it was  _ perfect.  _

It was steel, sturdy, and there were no holes in the roof. There were lights string on the roof and he saw Chanyeol fiddling around to look for the button for them, but when he turned them on Baekhyun found himself even more impressed at the space.

There was a mattress in the very back that took up all of the space at the end of the blue container and a pink colored rug on the floor.

It genuinely looked like they’d tried to make it homey, and somehow it  _ worked.  _

Baekhyun could picture all of the things they could hang on the walls if they found tape. He remembered Jongin saying he had a television on his own and wondered if Chanyeol could get one too... 

Maybe they could walk around outside on their own and find a guitar stand and maybe a few more instruments for Chanyeol to play and  _ keep  _ for once.

He could have his own things again. Not just things he carried for a while before he had to give them up so he didn’t carry too much.

“Baekhyunnie!” Chanyeol cried, putting his guitar against the wall before throwing his bag down, “Welcome home, baby.” 

Baekhyun’s brows pulled together unintentionally and this overwhelmed feeling swam around in his stomach as he set his things down. 

The door was heavy. Incredibly so considering it was solid metal, but they would get used to it.

It echoed when he pulled it shut, but that could easily get fixed when they added some items to the walls to absorb the sound. 

Baekhyun felt near tears as he climbed onto the bed with Chanyeol while releasing a heavy sigh.

“Are you crying?”

“I’m not crying, are you?” Baekhyun asked, wiping his nose on his sleeve before sucking it up and climbing onto Chanyeol's lap. 

“A little bit,” Chanyeol admitted.

Baekhyun laughed and wrapped his arms around his shoulders to hug him and Chanyeol responded instantly, squeezing his waist and pressing his face into Baekhyun’s collarbones.

“Crybaby,” Baekhyun whispered, combing fingers through Chanyeol’s hair. “But I love you even if you’re a crybaby.” 

“We’re going to be happy here, Baek,” Chanyeol said abruptly, sitting back to look at him with wide, glossed over eyes. “Okay? You don’t need to worry anymore.” 

“I always worry.” 

_ “No,”  _ The younger shook his head, “You worry when things are stressful. They aren’t now. We’re safe here. Isn't this what you wanted? We can have a family-“

_ “Don't.”  _ Baekhyun hissed a bit, “Don't you say that. Not you. I’ll play nice, Yeol. I will, but don’t pull that  _ you can have a family  _ shit. You're my family.  _ You.  _ That's it. I want you and nobody else, that’s too much.” 

Chanyeol looked through him like he could see right through him, but Baekhyun wasn’t looking away in fear Chanyeol would take that as him lying.

“Okay,” Chanyeol clicked his tongue and laid back, throwing his arms behind his head, “Whatever you say, Baek. Whatever you want, even if you want to play pretend.” 

“I’m protecting you.” 

“You're protecting yourself.” 

Baekhyun couldn't deny that, but he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, instead he licked his lips and pulled off his shirt before shuffling down Chanyeol's hips to sit on his thighs and push up his husband's shirt.

Chanyeol began to laugh when slender fingers ran over his stomach and reached down for Baekhyun's hair when kisses began to be placed on his skin. “Really? Now?” 

“Hey,” Baekhyun laughed against his abdomen, “Jun basically gave us permission, why not?” 

“Well you won’t see me arguing.” 

***

They ate together every night. 

For the first three nights everyone let Baekhyun and Chanyeol both slip past them and settle in, but on night four they’d been dragged out.

Well, one of them went willingly and the other… dragged his feet behind himself the whole time.

“So you're into plants? That's what Chanyeol said?” 

Baekhyun smiled politely as he peered across the plastic folding table at Yixing. 

He was really sweet, he didn’t ask many questions or talk that much - at least not like Jongdae did.

Baekhyun wasn’t sure he ever wanted to approach Jongdae on his own accord because he'd been tossed around in a hug for two whole minutes. It was good Chanyeol loved a good extrovert  _ and _ someone touchy feely, so he'd probably be happy if Baekhyun threw him to the radio mouth next time. 

But Yixing was calm, and he had this really nice smile with dimples set in his cheeks. His eyes looked kind and warm.

Baekhyun didn’t mind Yixing.

“Well, I used to study them,” Baekhyun murmured, “I uh.. did a lot of research. It was pretty lame.. Chanyeol used to say I was a green thumb, but it was mostly science. So  _ yeah,  _ I used to be into them. Before all this…” 

“Oh,” Yixing began to laugh and even that wasn’t loud and obnoxious, not like half the group that were talking loudly on the other end of the table. “You should come to the garden and help, I’m  _ struggling.  _ I was a librarian before this, not a gardener, and for some reason I just  _ can’t  _ get the watermelons to grow! Last year they did, then suddenly they don’t want to! I mean… we have tomatoes, onions, lettuce, even strawberries but when it comes to the  _ one  _ fruit I want then nothing sprouts.” 

Baekhyun’s eyes shone with interest, flickering back and forth in thought before an arm was reaching between him and Yixing to plop another serving of soup into Baekhyun’s bowl.

“What’re you guys talking about?” Minseok grinned, brow raised.

“Chanyeol told me Baekhyun was good with plants.” 

“Is that so?”

“Maybe..” Baekhyun spoke up, swallowing when both pairs of eyes flickered to him, “Maybe you should try a hoop tunnel, it creates more heat and creates a greenhouse effect… it would help. I mean, it works for a lot of plants, it’s just a thought… I can um, maybe come check?”

Minseok whistled, eyes lit up with something  _ proud,  _ “Look at you, not even a week here and you want to pull your weight. I knew you weren’t going to-“

_ “Sehunnie!”  _ Jongdae screamed across the clearing, “Sehun! It’s dinner time! Come on, kid!”

Baekhyun twisted in his seat to see where all the ruckus was aimed towards.

He hadn’t even noticed that someone was missing, but he hadn’t spent enough time outside of his and Chanyeol’s little home the past few days to count and see if he’d met everyone. 

Baekhyun had forgotten about Sehun truthfully. Jongin told him a few stories about how they liked to try and catch birds in the forest and climb trees, but other than that… he'd just  _ forgotten. _

Now he wouldn’t forget. He couldn’t.

Sehun was small even for a thirteen year old. Really small. He was thin, lanky, and it didn’t help that he was wearing clothes a size too big. 

The boy had these small, almond eyes and a shaggy mess of black hair on his head. 

He fiddled with the end of his shirt and dirt on his hands - Baekhyun wondered who was in charge of him, because a child needed at least one elder to look up to... but then again, Baekhyun didn’t know how people raised kids when it was the end of the world.

“Sehunn-“ Just as Jongdae started up again the boy turned back around and bolted out of the camp.

Minseok sighed loudly and put the pot down on the table with a grumble, “Ah, that boy,” he murmured and took off after him.

“Sehun is shy,” Yixing whispered, reaching across the table to push Baekhyun’s bowl towards him, “Anyway, can you explain that idea again?” 

***

Baekhyun couldn't stop thinking of Sehun. He just looked so scared walking into the clearing like he had, and he didn’t see the boy for the next three days.

It was stuck in his mind. He thought about it every single day while he went outside the walls to the garden and helped Yixing.

At least he was pulling his weight, and that  _ should  _ be what he focused on, because it was what he knew Junmyeon and Minseok were looking for, but he couldn’t get over the little boy.

“I’m going to shower.” Baekhyun spoke up over the sound of Chanyeol tuning his guitar, “I’ll be back.” 

“Want me to come with you?” 

Baekhyun snorted and threw his towel on his shoulder as he made his way across their makeshift room to Chanyeol, “You think I can’t shower alone?” 

“I think there’s always room for help.”

“You're so horny these days,” Baekhyun cackled and leaned down to press a kiss to his forehead, running his fingertips over Chanyeol's ear, “Let’s not have sex in the showers that we all share.” 

Chanyeol shrugged and tilted his chin up more, bringing his arm that rested over his guitar out to cup the back of Baekhyun’s thigh and pull him closer. “Maybe next time?” 

“In your dreams.” 

“Careful, last time you told me that I had to wake you up to take care of the incident you caused.” 

“How am I at fault for your dirty dreams?” 

“You're just so sexy.” 

“Hm, that  _ is _ my fault,” Baekhyun drawled sarcastically, firmly grabbing ahold of Chanyeol's chin before pressing their lips together.

Although he'd rejected Chanyeol's sex offer moments before, Baekhyun still took a moment to bite down onto his bottom lip. 

It was just too cute how Chanyeol’s first reaction was to pull him closer, but the guitar in his lap was like a barrier and Baekhyun began to giggle when Chanyeol realized and made a frustrated noise against his mouth.

“Going,” Baekhyun murmured, “To  _ shower,”  _ He reminded, smacking a wet kiss to the corner or red, plump lips before pulling away.

Chanyeol gave his best puppy eyes and Baekhyun really began to laugh at such a look. “You're a tease!”

“I can’t kiss my husband?” 

“Not like  _ that..  _ and then leave.” Chanyeol complained, looking back down to mess with his guitar, “Just go then! Leave me hanging over here!”

“Dramatic, baby,” Baekhyun chirped with a handful of short giggles before stepping out of their room.

It was already dark out, which was a bad thing about their living situation seeing as it was hard to tell what time of day it was from inside of the containers, but Baekhyun would take safety over that any day.

But a good thing was that the sanctuary had lights on at night, so he didn’t have to worry about getting stuck in the dark and walking into hard steel, although it was difficult for him to find his way around still.

It really was a maze here, but everyone else seemed to have been here for so long it was like second nature to know the way. Baekhyun hoped he'd grow used to it.

Baekhyun made his way to the showers that were placed against the back walls. Junmyeon had been right, they weren’t exactly the best showers, they were portable ones just like the toilets, but he'd heard some of the more hands on people murmuring about wanting to make actual bathrooms.

He hoped they planned to do that  _ soon  _ because he would kill for a bath.

_ “Shit!”  _

Baekhyun jumped a foot in the air at the cry from right beside him, lifting his chin to catch sight of a small back.

He frowned and took a few steps away from the wall to get a better view.

Sure enough the figure was the same kid he'd been wondering about for the past few days. 

Baekhyun was confused. It was late out, literally nobody was out anymore, and he was sure Sehun shouldn’t be standing on top of containers like this.

With worried eyes Baekhyun dropped his towel down beside the showers before finding his way to a ladder.

They had them set up at various points around the sanctuary in case they needed to take a peek at something going on outside of the walls. 

Just the other day Jongin had exclaimed that a bear had once come too close to the walls and there were claw marks on the metal to prove it.

That sounded strange to Baekhyun who came from the city, but considering they were now near a forest  _ and  _ the ocean, he ought to get used to the thought of animals curiously snooping around. 

“Are you allowed to be cursing like a sailor?” Baekhyun huffed as he got to the top, feet sounding loud on the metal as he dragged himself towards the boy. 

Sehun closed in on him in an instant, eyes wide and scared.

“What’re you doing up here?” Baekhyun murmured, licking his lips nervously before taking a seat on the edge of the containers.

His stomach shifted uncomfortably when he looked down and saw they were directly on the edge of the port, so his feet were dangling over a foot or two of cement, and then it was pure ocean.

Sehun didn't answer, he just fiddled and swung his legs back and forth as if he didn’t care at all for the huge drop there was. He must be used to it.

Baekhyun clicked his tongue and sat back on his palms, “Do you know who I am? Did Minseok tell you?” 

_ “Chanyeol…” _

A smile spread across his face at Sehun’s soft whisper of a voice, “You met Chanyeol?” Baekhyun cooed, placing his chin on his palm, “Did he show you his games?” 

Sehun didn’t even look at him, he hadn’t looked at him once since Baekhyun sat down and just kept yanking on his shirt like he was incredibly uncomfortable. But he nodded.

Baekhyun hummed and reached over for a bucket between them but Sehun  _ flinched.  _

Baekhyun backtracked from the bucket with a concerned expression and placed his hands in his lap, but he'd already gotten a whiff of what was in the bucket. 

“You went fishing? It’s late to be fishing. Did you have fun?” 

Sehun's shoulders touched his ears when he shrugged.

“Okay,” Baekhyun whispered, “Do you want help taking your stuff down? Where’s your pole? Did you toss it down already?” 

And then the boy’s shoulders dropped and he pointed down into the water in front of them and Baekhyun didn’t know why, but he felt incredibly sad because Sehun looked so upset over something that was an accident.

“Are you going to get in trouble?”

“ ‘m not allowed to be up here at night…” 

Baekhyun could see why, it wasn’t exactly a place he should be hanging out on, one small slip and he could seriously get hurt.

“Then we won’t tell anyone,” Baekhyun said firmly, climbing to his feet, “I won’t tell anyone and we’ll say the pole broke so we tossed it, okay? Now come on, I’ll climb down and you can pass me the bucket.” 

Sehun didn’t verbally agree, and at this point Baekhyun had been expecting as much, but he hadn’t expected to be left with a bucket of smelly fish.

But that’s what happened, because as soon as Sehun climbed down the ladder he ran off at the speed of light. 

***

“Yixing,” Baekhyun muttered as he washed his hands under the hose in the garden, he had dirt staining his cheeks and he shivered from a gust of wind. “What can you tell me about Sehun?”

“Sehun? Oh no, is that kid getting into trouble again?” 

_ “No!”  _ Baekhyun said quickly, eyes going wide as he passed the hose off to Yixing before walking across the garden to check the water filter.

Apparently they had a water engineer here. Jinyoung used to work at a power plant and helped create these big water filtration systems that had tubes all around the sanctuary.

All of the ones that went to things like the showers and sinks in the sanctuary were connected to tubes that were draped over some of the walls that sucked water right up from the surface of the ocean and carried all the dirty water right out, but the one in the garden was connected to a small stream just past the wall of trees.

“I mean… I just saw him at breakfast, he doesn’t talk much so I’m curious.” 

Yixing was quiet for a good few minutes before he cleared his throat and swallowed, “Yeah, I mean… here, just take a seat.” 

Baekhyun raised his brows and hurried to accept one of them folding seats, rubbing his hands together because of the cold but his eyes were wide with interest.

“Sehun… well,” Yixing half smiled before scratching his cheek, “He's a struggle, that kid.. he doesn’t like people. Or trust them, he.. he was found two years ago, in a small town about ten miles south. He'd just been sitting in the road when they found him, covered in blood. 

It was clear what happened when they stepped into a shop where the kid was. There was an infected still banging on the door. It was.. well, from what I heard it was a massacre in there. Basically we came to understand that Sehun’s parents had invited this couple to hide out with them, they didn’t know one of them was infected…”

Baekhyun’s throat felt like it closed up and this sickened feeling churned in his stomach as he began to squeeze his pant leg anxiously. “He's scared of new people?” 

“Well, considering he's been here two years and only talks to our small group... he’s scared of a lot of things. Anyway, we should head back before dinner.” 

Yixing sounded less and less comfortable the more he spoke about it, and Baekhyun had no idea if it was because the topic itself affected him or if perhaps it was his own reaction that made the other seem upset.

Baekhyun didn’t doubt that the others knew about what they’d spoken about, it was likely the only excuse they could tell the others to explain his somewhat unfriendly behavior.

Although he'd been trying really hard to get along with others.

Chanyeol told him he was doing good at least and that meant he was doing extremely well because Chanyeol thought everything was rude.

Baekhyun had no idea how he ended up with a husband so nice he couldn’t even politely say  _ excuse me  _ to walk past someone, Chanyeol waited until they moved on their own because he didn’t want to rush them. 

The pair made it back behind the wall with only a few awkward waves on Baekhyun’s part towards people he'd yet to learn the names of.

The truth was he was terrible at names, even worse than he was at making friends. 

“Look it's Soo. Hey, Kyungsoo!” Yixing yelled from beside him, a basket of vegetables in his arms.

Kyungsoo was leaning over a table with a group of others and Baekhyun shuffled uncomfortably but followed Yixing over because he felt too awkward to walk off without saying  _ hi. _

“Baek,” Kyungsoo smiled this heart shaped and pretty grin as he grabbed Baekhyun’s arm and pulled him closer to the table, “Look, were thinking of going out for a run in the next week or so, we’re going to be hitting a few places, you see any stores you want us to hit? You guys could always come, but I figured you may want to settle more first.”

Baekhyun pressed his lips together and felt Yixing peering over his shoulder rather close, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. 

It was strange to not find it uncomfortable to be trapped between him and Kyungsoo, because he was only used to Chanyeol’s towering form over his back, but maybe… maybe he’d gotten used to it on the way here?

Baekhyun was confused, but he didn’t question it aloud and instead looked down at Kyungsoo’s finger on the map.

His eyes scanned the few store names written on the street and nearly laughed because he realized it was a tour guide of the area, not a map - well, it  _ was,  _ only a cartoonish one.

It was smart of them to look out for little pamphlets like these.

He found himself more and more impressed with the way they did things here every single day. 

“Can you go here?” Baekhyun asked, tapping his finger on a store labeled  _ Young’s Music Center.  _ “Chanyeol's been wanting a guitar stand if you don’t mind.” 

Kyungsoo brought out a pen from his pocket and Baekhyun had a passing thought that the fact he kept a pen with himself was rather cute. 

“Got it.” 

“Ah, can you get me a new guitar chip, I lost mine! Chanyeol and I should get together and play. I forgot everyone said he played,” Yixing complained. 

Baekhyun smiled a small bit because he knew it would make Chanyeol do this wide, goofy smile as he got asked to play music together.

“Um..” Baekhyun pulled back, “If you get time, maybe check a clothing store for some new shirts?”

“For you?”

“No,” Baekhyun shuffled a bit and crossed his arms, “I just noticed Jongin's looked a little worn.. you know, maybe he needs new ones? I heard him asking if anyone had an extra sweater the other day because his had holes. It’s getting cold out so..” 

Kyungsoo and Yixing stared at him before the latter murmured, “You heard that?” 

Baekhyun shrugged, “I have ears, I listen..” 

And then he turned to walk away because he didn’t like the shocked staring.

Did he really give off the impression he didn’t listen? It wasn’t like he wanted the kid to freeze to death or anything. Baekhyun  _ listened  _ even if he didn’t respond sometimes… 

He didn’t want to be looked at like that, like every single time he made comments about someone else that it was something so shocking. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? 

Jongin needed new clothes, Baekhyun was just reminding them, it wasn’t weird…

Well, considering he’s sucker punched the kid in the face a month ago.. maybe it was a little weird of him, but Baekhyun still felt like shit because of that, so he tried not to think about it.

Baekhyun snatched a package of mini donuts off the plastic folding table when he walked into their area, they always tried to have snacks out and Baekhyun was pretty sure everyone did that for the kids seeing as they were the only ones that had anyone under the age of eighteen on their clearing, but Baekhyun was guilty of swiping snacks.

Nobody minded when they saw him digging through the snack bowl though, instead they always laughed.

Baekhyun was just opening up the package when he heard the sound of yelling from inside of one of the containers, specifically a bright green one that was slightly rusted.

He snorted at Chanyeol's yelling and could already picture his excited look as he approached the cracked metal door. 

_ “Yeah! Now they’re going to beat him up! Go!” _

Baekhyun was so used to Chanyeol’s obnoxious talking during superhero movies that he didn’t bat an eye at him and instead saw Jongin laughing from his spot on a rug on the floor. 

That was so  _ cute. _

He looked around the room with his head stuck through the crack. It was definitely more lived in than his and Chanyeol’s own, it reminded him to ask around and see if they had another vehicle they could use to go take some furniture from a nearby store.

Jongin and Sehun even had a bunk bed, one that was slightly bigger on the bottom bunk and in the top one sat the youngest.

Sehun had a blanket pulled all around himself and instead of looking at the television he was staring at Chanyeol.

Baekhyun had never seen someone look at Chanyeol so carefully before; it was just so obvious the man was a huge baby.

But Sehun did. He observed him and fiddled with the edge of his blanket wearily.

“Hey guys,” Baekhyun pushed through the doorway finally, smiling, “Are you having a movie marathon? Can I join?”

_ “Baek!”  _ Jongin grinned and gave him a rather childish wave from the floor, “Yeol knows  _ all  _ the superheroes.” 

“He does,” Baekhyun agreed and walked into the room straight towards Chanyeol who was seated on a bean bag beside the bunk bed. 

His husband gave him these big, excited eyes and held a bowl out to him. “Candy?”

Baekhyun, unfortunately, was a sucker for candy. So he accepted the bowl with a kiss to Chanyeol’s head and took a seat on the third step of the wooden stairs of the bunk bed.

For a few moments he just ate handfuls of slightly stale M&M’s. They tasted decent, but the color had faded on them. But chocolate was chocolate so he'd take what he could get.

On his third handful of candy Baekhyun noticed shuffling in his peripheral vision and saw Sehun looking at his bowl of candy.

The elder climbed the last two steps until he was sitting on the top bunk and whispered, “Do you want some, Sehun?” 

Sehun was only a kid so it seemed obvious to Baekhyun he wanted it, but despite that the teenager shook his head no and went back to his fiddling.

“It’s okay.” Baekhyun mumbled under his breath and placed the bowl on top of the floral comforter before pulling away, “I was done anyway.” 

And then he climbed down the ladder and moved to instead approach Chanyeol, laying a hand on his husband's shoulder. 

Baekhyun didn’t need to say anything, Chanyeol reached over to grab his hips and pull him down into his lap without so much as looking away from the television then pressed a kiss to his temple.

Baekhyun snuck a glance at Sehun and found, just as he expected, that the boy was eating the candy now.

He didn’t want to make Sehun uncomfortable, there was no reason to be uncomfortable, but Sehun’s reasoning seemed clear to him.

New people meant something bad was happening. Baekhyun thought the same way until only a little over a month ago.

But now Baekhyun wasn’t sure if it was okay to think that way anymore.

In his mind, just because one group of people turned out decent didn’t mean they all would, but alternately he also mused that just because one couple they’d met turned out bad didn’t mean they all would be.

It was an endless cycle of thoughts and fears and Baekhyun, frankly, was  _ tired  _ of living in constant fear.

He wondered if Sehun was too.

“Baek…” 

Baekhyun blinked in confusion but quickly gained focus when Jongin was leaning over into his face, now sitting on the bottom bunk. “Yes, Nini?”

“You know…” Jongin looked shy as he mumbled, “Chanyeol said that you give good head rubs… so..” 

“Get over here, kid.” Baekhyun snickered, “Chanyeol is telling stories about me now, huh? Tell me what mean things he’s saying!” 

If Baekhyun noticed Sehun secretly peering down over the railing to look at them, he pretended not to.

***

It was really cloudy out today, like it was going to storm.

Baekhyun was worried because a bunch of their people took off to town, so he hoped they wouldn’t get caught up in too harsh of conditions on the way back.

Because of the bad weather, something had clogged up the water tube that went to the garden, and while they didn’t need to use it immediately, Yixing suggested they bring the tube inside anyways just in case rocks or something punctured it in the storm. 

Baekhyun volunteered to go out because everyone else was getting ready by taking things inside of containers so they didn’t go flying about.

He stumbled through the woods, holding his coat closed over his waist and watching his step as he crashed through the edge of the woods.

The sucky thing about his and Chanyeol’s home was that they hadn’t hooked up power yet, their lights were still battery powered ones and even though Jongdae had donated one of his standing heaters they hadn’t been able to hook it up, so when he left Minseok had been giving them extra covers and such.

He hoped Chanyeol was stocking up on food and things in case the storm lasted more than a few hours.

Baekhyun tsked to himself at the thought of their room being cold, but they’d have to deal with it for the time being. Kyungsoo said he would bring back longer extension cords to hook things up.

_ “Fuck.”  _ Baekhyun murmured as he nearly slipped over the damp edge of the stream, bending down to yank the thin tube from the water. 

He stood up and began to wrap the tube around his forearm as he started back towards the garden when abruptly there was a shrill scream.

One of  _ pure terror. _

Baekhyun barely had time to react before there was a second scream from right in front of him, and the second he turned around to peer into the foggy woods there were two small hands grabbing his jacket and nearly taking him to the ground.

“Baekhyun! Baekhyun!” 

Sehun was screaming and crying, hanging on the back of his coat.

“Sehun?” Baekhyun fussed, “What are you doing out here? Sehun! What are you thinking? It’s danger-“

_ “Him!”  _ Sehun screamed shrilly, pointing a finger over Baekhyun’s shoulder, “It’s gonna get me! Help!  _ Baekhyun help me!”  _

_ Baekhyun help me. Help me. Help-  _

Baekhyun was spinning around in an instant to push Sehun off of him gently, “Stay here. Don't move.” 

The boy was much too shaken to do anything but stand there and cry. His eyes were red and cheeks blotchy from the cold.

Baekhyun would never voluntarily approach any infected. He’d only ever done it once when Chanyeol had been trapped and injured, but he was grabbing the biggest rock he could find within the span of two seconds and racing up to the creature.

It was slow moving. It’s skin was a sickly blue from hypothermia, and somewhere in the back of Baekhyun’s mind he wondered if it  _ hurt  _ the host of the virus to have all these conditions inflicted on them.

Until the creature began to moan hungrily at him, then Baekhyun realized they were just  _ dead. _

They were already dead, so it didn’t matter when he kicked the biter's weak, thin legs out from under it, and it didn’t matter when he began to smash the rock into a thick skull with both hands. 

What mattered was the fact there was a little boy scared to  _ death _ with him. It didn’t matter why Sehun was running around the woods, although Baekhyun was going to make sure Minseok heard about this, it mattered that this creature didn’t get to their base where it could infect people.

_ Infect.  _

At that thought Baekhyun was quick to pull back, his face pink from cold and hands soaked in blood, but he dropped the rock and turned to dunk his hands into the creak despite his clothing also being bloody.

“Sehunnie,” Baekhyun could still hear his heavy crying even through the hard wind, “Did you get bit?” 

There was no answer, only a heavy wail.

“Oh, I know I know, you’re so scared.” Baekhyun crooned, yanking off his bloody coat and dropping it onto the ground.

He didn’t want to scare Sehun more with the mess.

“Hey, Sehun. It’s just me, I’m here.” 

As soon as Baekhyun came within a foot of him, Sehun was throwing himself at his chest.

Baekhyun began to coo and hold his head close, “I know, sweetie. I know. Sh, it’s scary, but you did so well.” He pulled back to cup his face, brushing damp hands over his cheeks to check for marks, “No bites?”

“N-No bites.” 

Baekhyun smiled and pulled him under his arm, “Come on, bub, let’s go.” 

Sehun didn’t release him for even a moment, he sniffled and rubbed his nose, but had one hand latched into Baekhyun’s jacket the entire walk down and when they got close enough he saw a few people standing on top of the wall and Chanyeol practically jumped at them from out of nowhere when they approached the entrance.

_ “Are you okay?  _ We heard the scream!” He worried, grabbing Baekhyun’s cheeks with his eyes blown wide and frantic.

Baekhyun shook his hands off before gently tugging Sehun in front of him, “Chanyeol will carry you, sweetheart.” 

Sehun didn’t flinch, he didn’t make a scared face, he just raised his arms up and slumped against him.

“Ah, you’re so worn out, we know, baby.” 

Chanyeol gave Baekhyun a weird look, but he picked up the kid anyway, and surprisingly didn’t look confused, just worried when he looked over Sehun’s head at him.

Sehun was really small normally, but considering Chanyeol was huge he looked like a child - not the thirteen year old he was - he looked no different than a kid who was worn out after crying.

“Baek!” Junmyeon screamed and Baekhyun heard the metal indenting with every step he took as the man ran along the side of the wall, “Have you seen Sehu-“

Baekhyun must have looked insane. He had blood on his jeans and chin and his hair was soaked, but he just gave a tired smile. “Got him. Chan is taking him back to his room.” He answered, shooing Chanyeol off with his hand. 

“You… you good?” 

“I think we’ll be staying with the kids tonight,” Baekhyun answered, “If that’s alright?”

Junmyeon had a look of shock flicker through his eyes before he was kneeling down to lean closer over the side of the wall to level him with an unreadable expression. “You don’t have to ask, Baek.” 

Baekhyun smiled and gave a mock salute as he spun on his heels, refusing to acknowledge Junmyeon’s words. He didn’t want to think about anything other than going to bed.

_ And making sure Sehun was okay.  _

“Have a good night, leader!” 

“I’m not the leader!” Junmyeon cried back, but it sounded weak because even though he tried to deny it, it was so obvious he and Minseok were in charge.

***

Baekhyun groaned as someone shook his shoulder. He could hear the wind outside smacking against the metal container and the portable DVD player was still spinning with the sound of The Lion King intro playing on it.

He whined and opened his eyes to rub them, “Sehun?”

“I had a bad dream.” 

Baekhyun didn’t feel all that tired anymore because he could hear the shakiness of Sehun's voice. So he sat up and gave his eyes one good rub before opening his arms for him.

They’d made a giant bed on the floor of the teenagers room, which turned out to be a good idea because Jongin was like a space heater all on his own and clung, so he'd been extra warm although Chanyeol had given the teenager stink eyes for keeping Baekhyun to himself.

It seemed the pair made up in the middle of the night though because both cuddle bugs were flopped out around each other with Jongin’s elbow dangerously nearing Chanyeol’s face.

Baekhyun had bigger issues to deal with other than the pair injuring each other in a squirmy sleepy state, but he hoped Jongin would give Chanyeol a taste of his own medicine because half the time Baekhyun woke up with Chanyeol squeezing so hard Baekhyun had to shove him off.

“Sh, it’s okay. We’re okay in here,” Baekhyun soothed, laying his chin on top of the boy's head and rubbing his spine. “There’s no need to worry.”

“They’re gonna get me one day.” 

Baekhyun frowned and shushed him as he pulled back to grab his sleep swollen cheeks. “What?  _ No.  _ Not a chance, Sehun.” 

Sehun just began to breathe harder like a child on the verge of tears, so Baekhyun had no other choice than to shush him and pat his back.

A day before and Sehun wouldn’t have even let Baekhyun say  _ hello _ to him without scurrying away, but fear was powerful, and Sehun had been  _ so  _ afraid tonight.

“By the time you’re grown up they're all gonna be gone, didn’t you see how slow it was coming after you, bub? Baekhyun whispered. 

“But then..” Sehun whispered, “Then I have to worry about  _ people.  _ They’re even worse.” 

Was it bad that he didn’t want to lie to Sehun?

He didn’t want to give the kid any false ideas. Baekhyun was pretty sure every single one of them realized that once creatures stopped lingering about that they would still have to keep to themselves.

If they survived then there were certainly other survivors, and humans weren’t much better than the infected, cannibalistic hosts when there was no order.

People would try to take control, and it wouldn’t be pretty, but they had no other option but to keep their walls standing. 

“But you know what?” Baekhyun asked softly, “By the time that happens we’re going to be ready. We aren’t going to be defenseless. That’s why we have metal walls and weapons..” 

Sehun nodded, but his eyes were a bit downcast when he murmured, “Minseok doesn’t let me go outside the walls, but I want to help out too, so when I heard them say to get the water tube I followed you…”

Baekhyun raised his brows at the sudden confession, because he truthfully couldn’t care less about why Sehun was out there; he just cared that Sehun was okay now.

“You can be helpful,” The elder cooed, giving Sehun’s cheek a light squeeze, “But maybe next time let me know you’re following me and we can go together.”

Sehun nodded with apologetic eyes and it made Baekhyun laugh as he shifted to lay back down. Sehun was really cute. He didn’t talk much or smile much, but he was a thinker.

So when he wanted to talk everyone should pay attention, because apparently he had very important ideas to talk about.

_ “Baek?” _

Baekhyun hummed and rubbed Sehun’s head as the teenager settled back under his arm. “Yes, sweetheart?” 

“I heard Jun say that you didn’t like people. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I don’t want you to not like us.” 

“Sweetheart, it’s not that I don’t like people,” Baekhyun whispered, eyes on the single row of Christmas lights overhead. He couldn’t blame them for leaving one on all the time, these boxes were pitch black when closed. “Sometimes you have to do things to protect yourself and people you love. I think you understand that well, don’t you?”

“Because people die.” 

Baekhyun gulped and gave a slight nod as he combed a hand through Sehun’s soft hair, “They do.” 

“Did your parents die too?”

“Yes,” He muttered, voice barely above a whisper, “And Chanyeol's too, and I.. I lost a little brother.” 

“Did you love your brother?” 

_ “Yes.”  _ Baekhyun’s voice cracked this time, unable to hold back the pain slipping out, “Very much. Very, very much. He… you guys would’ve been about the same age.” 

Sehun shifted to lay his cheek against Baekhyun’s chest and look up at him. “Does it hurt a lot? Sometimes when I think of my parents it hurts a bunch. I sleep in bed with Jongin sometimes when I’m really sad.” 

Baekhyun laughed a bubbly, wet noise because Sehun sounded like he had figured everything out - when he was sad, go to someone else for comfort - and… it was something Baekhyun should probably do more often.

He didn’t go to anyone though. He pushed Chanyeol away because he didn’t want to talk about it. Even when they’d walked into his home with all the hope in the world to find someone and instead found it soaked in blood… he'd just turned to walk out because he didn’t want to face it.

They didn’t look around. They didn’t search the house. There was enough blood there for him to have his answer whether or not they’d made it.

It hurt more because he’d had to see the mess, but Chanyeol’s house had just been  _ empty.  _

They assumed the worst because they were most likely correct; Chanyeol's parents had been older and wouldn’t have made it long, but something about knowing they had gotten out made Chanyeol smile even if they knew they’d never find them again.

Chanyeol used to say his parents went down fighting, because it made himself grin and feel better, but it made Baekhyun feel worse, so he kept it to himself when he noticed. 

They should’ve spoken about it more.

“It does hurt,” Baekhyun answered, “But you know what… Chanyeol makes it better. He’s really goofy and can make anyone smile.”

Sehun laughed and nodded an agreement, “He acts younger than me.”

Baekhyun snorted and internally agreed because most of the time Chanyeol just wanted to read comics or play games, but he had really depressed moments too. And he had days where he didn’t want to talk at all, which was incredibly rare, but it meant he was  _ angry.  _ And Chanyeol, when angry, was so concerning to see. 

“Let’s go to bed, bub.” 

Sehun stayed silent for only a moment, but sounded nervous when he opened his mouth, “I’ve never had a brother before.” 

The elder’s entire body stiffened, and he knew that if he wanted he could back out now, pretend he didn’t hear.

But Baekhyun did hear. 

“It’s the best feeling in the world.” 

“Will you be my brother, Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun began to shake with silent tears as he grabbed Sehun’s shoulders and wrapped him up tightly. 

_ “O-Okay.”  _

***

They were able to grow watermelons. And with Baekhyun’s help they even got sweet potatoes too.

Baekhyun was obsessed with them, he probably ate his weight in sweet potatoes every night at dinner, but everyone always laughed at him and occasionally Jongdae would scream at him to eat some real food.

It always just made Baekhyun snort and pretend he didn’t hear when Chanyeol joined in on the teasing and pointed out that Baekhyun also had eaten all the packaged brownies and blamed it on Jongin.

Dinner was always just a huge deal now. Everyone looked forward to it.

It was a nice day to unwind after a day of setting up fishing traps or teaching Jongin how to aim a gun.

Kyungsoo, although he had only trained in military style and never actually gotten far, finally agreed to teach them how to shoot because, after all, they never knew what was to come. 

Even Chanyeol agreed it was important, although he gave these big, serious, puppy eyes the entire time he was listening to Kyungsoo that had Sehun laughing.

Today he and Chanyeol had finally gotten furniture for their room. They got a dresser, small bean bag, and clothing rack from a store only about an hour drive away.

They’d brought back crates of bottled soda that, while flat, still tasted good and everyone had jumped at their find.

“Baby?” Baekhyun walked around the plastic table with a half eaten sweet potato in hand as he wrapped around around the back of Chanyeol’s shoulders to press a smacking kiss to his cheek, “Take a break and eat.” 

Chanyeol taking a break from playing guitar sounded like a crime, and the look his husband gave him suggested he felt the same because he gawked, “Do you even know me at  _ all?” _

Baekhyun grinned and pressed a quick kiss to his mouth before offering him a bite.

“I want to learn guitar  _ too!”  _ Jongin cried across the table, “Xing said I don’t listen though!”

“You get distracted, Nini.” Yixing snickered.

“If Jongin gets to learn I want to…” Sehun muffled behind his potato, a small frown coming on his face as he turned to look at Chanyeol, “I’ll listen to you, promise.” 

“You can both learn,” Minseok began seeing as Jongin looked ready to argue, “If Chanyeol or Yixing aren’t busy then you can learn, okay?”

“Chanyeol is also good at drums,” Baekhyun hummed, placing his leftovers on the table before grabbing Chanyeol’s shoulders and gently massaging, “And piano, and-“

Kyungsoo gagged dramatically, “Oh god! We get it! You two are in love blah blah, now please spare my eyes and give them a break from your lovey-dovey googly eyes.” 

Everyone began to burst out into laughter and Baekhyun laughed to himself with his ears turning bright red, placing his face in the back of Chanyeol’s hair to hide.

“Well,” Chanyeol mused, “Since we are embarrassing Baek, you guys should know Baekhyun can sing.” 

_ “No I can't!”  _

Baekhyun squeaked and curled his hand around Chanyeol's mouth, “I can’t! I swear I can-“

Chanyeol ripped his hands off his mouth, “Baekhyun even sang at a music festival when we were sixteen,” he said, squeezing his hands so he couldn’t put them back on his face. 

“No! He’s telling lies!”

“Nope, he sang a love song and then told me later on it was for me-“

_ “You little shit!”  _ Baekhyun’s face was fiery as he smacked Chanyeol’s arm and squealed, ducking his head to hide behind his hair. “I hate you.” 

“Ahh… someone is jealous…” Junmyeon abruptly murmured, pointing a finger across the table, “Sehunnie, why the long face?” 

Sehun pouted and had his eyes in his lap, fiddling with his shirt before he mumbled, “I want to hear Baek sing too.” 

Chanyeol's smile was a teasing one when he tilted his head back to look at Baekhyun because they both knew there was no escape now.

Not when Jongin or Sehun asked him to do things. _ Well,  _ even that felt far fetched to claim, because truthfully Baekhyun did whatever they asked of him.

Jongdae woke him up early to drag him out to the docks and check fishing traps and talked his ear off first thing in the morning.

Minseok and Junmyeon had interrupted him and Chanyeol’s kissing on more than one occasion by walking into their room to sit down and talk about future plans.

Baekhyun didn’t complain. He didn’t whine when the youngest three -  _ yes,  _ even Kyungsoo - followed him outside the walls like baby ducks demanding he teach them about plants.

There was nothing to complain about, because he enjoyed feeling needed. He enjoyed feeling like he belonged.

Baekhyun enjoyed caring about others. That’s what he’d learned recently.

Jongin had fallen down a tree and busted his knee up incredibly bad a few weeks ago, and Baekhyun felt his surge of panic that  _ should _ only strike him when it was Chanyeol.

But it wasn’t Chanyeol. And he felt it again when he saw Kyungsoo slip while walking along the top of the wall before, and a third time when Junmyeon pulled him aside to tell him that he and a few others would leave in a month to search for more people.

He panicked because the way Jongin cried made him feel horrible. He panicked because the way Kyungsoo slipped could have ended up with his head smacking the concrete ground of the shipping port. And he panicked because he worried about what could happen to Junmyeon out there. 

Baekhyun panicked because he cared and this was his family now, like they’d promised him.

It was the only family he had left, and he felt he better do a damn good job protecting them, because there were the only group of people that gave him a family when he didn’t deserve one.

So Baekhyun shifted to pull a seat out beside Chanyeol, he swallowed down his nerves, and placed a hand on Chanyeol’s thigh.

“Since  _ our _ Sehunnie wants to hear it.” Baekhyun replied with a soft, yet nervous smile.

Baekhyun hoped they would understand what he was too afraid to say aloud. 

Minseok began to laugh, “I knew you’d come around, kid.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you Miss Kiki for beta reading this for me 🥰


End file.
